banns

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English banes, the plural of ban (“proclamation”),^[2][3][4] which is inherited from Old English gebann, partly borrowed from Old French ban (“announcement, proclamation”).^[2][3][5] The OED treats it as the same word as ban in a specific use,^[6] and Ayto says the French and native nouns probably mingled in English.^[7] The Old French noun is from Frankish *ban or from some other Germanic cognate,^[5] and the OED takes it through Late Latin bannum.^[6] All go back to Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to speak publicly, proclaim”),^[5][7][1] apparently from Proto-Indo-European *bha- (“to speak, tell, say”).^[5][7] The long vowel of banes is unexplained,^[6][8] and the double n of the modern spelling follows medieval Latin, which used the same word in this sense.^[6][4][9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Notice in church of an intended marriage: before 1333, in Shoreham's poems, where the banes are to be called before the people on three holy days.^[3][4] The OED's first record is about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum,^[6] and Etymonline says the mid-15th century, with Anglo-Latin use from the late 12th.^[5] Anglo-Norman ban, recorded from 1136–37 for a proclamation, also covered marriage banns.^[10]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline and Barnhart, the fourth Lateran council made such a proclamation part of church legislation in 1215,^[5][4] and Barnhart adds that it was known in the councils of Canterbury before 1328.^[4] The singular is still found in the 15th century, but only the plural after that,^[6] in phrases such as ask the banns, bid the banns and publish the banns.^[8][3] The spelling took centuries to settle: the Prayer Book of 1549 has bannes, that of 1552 both bannes and banes, all editions from 1559 to 1661 banes, and those from 1662 on banns.^[6] The same word was once used for the proclamation or prologue of a play, recorded from about 1440.^[6][3][11] The objection formula forbid the banns appears in Lyly's Euphues in 1578, and it was also used figuratively.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1333 – banes, notice of an intended marriage.^[3][4]
• c. 1440 – proclamation or prologue of a play (last recorded 1884).^[6][3]
• 1549 – the spelling bannes in the Book of Common Prayer.^[6][4]
• 1559 – banes becomes the Prayer Book's form, until 1661.^[6]
• 1578 – to forbid the banns, to object formally to an intended marriage.^[6]
• 1662 – the Prayer Book's spelling banns.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Public notice, usually read in church on three Sundays, of a couple's intention to marry, so that anyone who knows of an impediment may object: The vicar read their banns in June.^{[12][11][6][8]}
2. forbid the banns: to raise a formal objection to an intended marriage; also figurative.^[12][6][8]
3. (obsolete, c. 1440–1884) The proclamation or prologue of a play.^[11][6][8]

Related words

• ban
• abandon
• banal
• contraband

Usage notes

Collins and Dictionary.com also give the spelling bans.^[12][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House